You will be able to arrive at an Airport or a Train Station in any major city around the world without any need to carry traveler’s cheques or stack of paper bills to exchange for local currency. Bitcoin ATM will be right there, to dispense the local fiat in exchange for some Bits in your Bitcoin wallet - a minor inconvenience till Bitcoin becomes global, universally accepted currency.

+50 countries visited so far and one of my 3 credit/debit cards always worked everywhere.

Did your banks charge a "Foreign Currency Markup" when you used your credit/debit cards?

We all hear "Be Your Own Bank" slogan thrown here and there but how many of us can comprehend what this actually means... Can you imagine lending / borrowing money by bumping your phones at the local park, or over a wi-fi in the taxi cab thousand miles away? How about paying your utility bills with a single click under a minute instead of bouncing around between multiple on-line payment systems, or writing and mailing checks? Buying a car or a house over blockchain? Leaving a will or a living trust via smart contract? I can not even to start comprehending possibilities this technology will unravel in the future.

All this coming from a late adopter / early sceptic who was too damn bored and dismissive years ago... Lost plenty of fiat to overpriced mining hardware, scams, and plain bad investment decisions over the last year. And during this uneasy year my believe in Bitcoin technology only strengthened and being reconfirmed every day. To all of you who are in pain and loosing faith since 2013 I completely sympathize, wishing you much more rewarding years ahead.

You will be able to arrive at an Airport or a Train Station in any major city around the world without any need to carry traveler’s cheques or stack of paper bills to exchange for local currency. Bitcoin ATM will be right there, to dispense the local fiat in exchange for some Bits in your Bitcoin wallet - a minor inconvenience till Bitcoin becomes global, universally accepted currency.

+50 countries visited so far and one of my 3 credit/debit cards always worked everywhere.

Yes, but I bet you had to call the bank in advance to tell them which countries you are going to visit in advance to ensure that the cards won't be blocked. At least that is what's been happening recently for VISA/MC cards issued by US banks - they've pretty much become worthless shit abroad and I get treated like a criminal when I call them for assistance. AMEX seems to work in everywhere, but only seems to be accepted in hotels and airports.

Just as an FYI for anyone having to suffer the use of CCs on a long trip... it works better if you continually make small purchases as you progress. Buy something at the departure airport, buy something at the arrival airport, buy something at resort. What not to do is wait until last few days of trip having exhausted cash and try to get $1000+ cash advance.

You will be able to arrive at an Airport or a Train Station in any major city around the world without any need to carry traveler’s cheques or stack of paper bills to exchange for local currency. Bitcoin ATM will be right there, to dispense the local fiat in exchange for some Bits in your Bitcoin wallet - a minor inconvenience till Bitcoin becomes global, universally accepted currency.

+50 countries visited so far and one of my 3 credit/debit cards always worked everywhere.

Yup. How are those fees working out for you? And when you had to call ahead so they wouldn't block your cards, did they ask you why you were going to all these countries as well as all the other privacy-violating questions that credit card companies need to know?

"Bitcoin really is one of the most important inventions ever made in the entire history of the world. It’s the first time in the entire history of the world that anyone can send or receive any amount of money with anyone anywhere else on the planet. And you don’t need permission from a bank or corporation, nor even governments for this matter. And you can send or receive any amount of money just like that for…practically, for free. And nothing like this has ever existed before in the entire history of the world."

It is a store of value, it's just performed poorly as one this year. I think in the long run it'll show to be a pretty good one as well. Just keep holding on.

no, it's none. It will be one at the year 2020 after two halvings from now. Right now it's 8% to 10% inflation. It doesn't even beat fiat let alone precious metals. At this stage bitcoin is good for shorting, mining and gambling or using its utility but it is not good to hold longterm.

there are plenty alts that have much lower inflation and are more stable in price too (tiny marketcap keeps them volatile though)

a few: quark, ixcoin, iocoin (low interest in that one), PPC, Uno, nxt and a whole bunch of others. Bitcoin is no store of value at this stage, it's a charity to miners and anyone who wants to tell you otherwise is a brainless bitcoin-pumper. Rule of thumb: if it has more than 5% yearly inflation DO NOT hold it longterm and only daytrade it as it can't hold it's value. As soon buying stops it starts declining. It's just math.

Since we broke the longterm trend and the lie of the exponential growth has been debunked the bulltards have nothing to back their claims up whereas my claim is backed up by a whole year of bearmarket.

Pretty sure it keeps going down as the cost of running this network are around 1 Million USD every 24 hours which is way more than fresh money coming in. I think fair value for a bitcoin should be somewhere between 20$ and 120$ with this inflationrate.

Of course the tech is genius but thanks to the inflation it's a no-show. Treating it as an outdated, volatile pump and dump shitcoin is the best approach and that view will actually make you money.

quark lost many of its value last year. If no one wants the coin it will die, no matter how low is the inflation.

Quark is currently still up more than 10-fold of its pre-bubble-value (and stable) while bitcoin is only up less than 3-fold (and not stable) despite more money thrown at it. Perception may differ. I made a fortune on quark.

The others are pretty stable too (all of them). Bitcoin is extremely volatile thanks to the endless miners dumpfest. In my perception bitcoin keeps the whole industry down and slows adoption with its inability to hold the value.

"Bitcoin really is one of the most important inventions ever made in the entire history of the world. It’s the first time in the entire history of the world that anyone can send or receive any amount of money with anyone anywhere else on the planet. And you don’t need permission from a bank or corporation, nor even governments for this matter. And you can send or receive any amount of money just like that for…practically, for free. And nothing like this has ever existed before in the entire history of the world."

quark lost many of its value last year. If no one wants the coin it will die, no matter how low is the inflation.

Quark is currently still up more than 10-fold of its pre-bubble-value (and stable) while bitcoin is only up less than 3-fold (and not stable) despite more money thrown at it. Perception may differ. I made a fortune on quark.

You and a few others made a fortune from quark because of the Max Keiser/Bill Still pump. Everyone else lost nearly all of their money.

quark lost many of its value last year. If no one wants the coin it will die, no matter how low is the inflation.

Quark is currently still up more than 10-fold of its pre-bubble-value (and stable) while bitcoin is only up less than 3-fold (and not stable) despite more money thrown at it. Perception may differ. I made a fortune on quark.

You and a few others made a fortune from quark because of the Max Keiser/Bill Still pump. Everyone else lost nearly all of their money.

there was plenty time to sell. And it went up plenty. If you bought into it after it was up 100-fold you have nobody to blame than yourself. No idea how someone would have managed to loose money on qrk in that run. Max Kaiser pumps Quark and the Overstock CEO pumps bitcoin where's the difference? Can't blame anything on supporters.You sound bitter.The fact remains: Bitcoin is a miserable store of value for years to come and the volatility is ridiculous for that exact same reason. ... but at least it has enormous hash on it and uses plenty electricity ... maybe there's a connection there...

You are holding the best hybrid of currency, commodity and store of value world has ever seen and does not know about it yet. It’s based on Mathematics… Unlike other currencies and even precious commodities it’s future supply is known, hard-coded and limited. It can not be printed by central banks, it’s value will not be affected by newly discovered mineral deposits, or manipulated by shady accounting and inflated expectations of Wall-Street firms.

In 5 to 10 years you will be able to walk into your local coffee shop, supermarket or a gas station and scan your credit-card size hardware wallet with the same ease as using your credit card today. All complexities of the protocol and difficult to understand underlying technology will be hidden behind secure, intuitive and easy to use interface.

You will be able to arrive at an Airport or a Train Station in any major city around the world without any need to carry traveler’s cheques or stack of paper bills to exchange for local currency. Bitcoin ATM will be right there, to dispense the local fiat in exchange for some Bits in your Bitcoin wallet - a minor inconvenience till Bitcoin becomes global, universally accepted currency.

I know, it’s very hard to see now days. Progress is happening on the background while we are blinded by BTC-e and Huobi charts, deafened by complaints from people seeking instant gratification, disheartened by theft, scam and incompetence in the ecosystem.

I believe one day this will change. And personally, I wouldn’t want to get caught on the wrong side of that day.

As for now I’m thankful for depressed BTC price, thankful to traders flushing out weak hands, thankful to efficient Chinese mining farms who let the rest of us, latecomers, to get in at the lower price point. I’m buying at $300, $130 or $3, and if I can buy it at 0 I will gladly take that opportunity as well.

And if you think I’m a dreamer, check again in a few years... I might be the one who is wide awake now, and you are the one still sleeping.

P.S. No offence

What you want already exists in puzzle pieces across the world. They will come together for everyone eventually.

You are holding the best hybrid of currency, commodity and store of value world has ever seen and does not know about it yet. It’s based on Mathematics… Unlike other currencies and even precious commodities it’s future supply is known, hard-coded and limited. It can not be printed by central banks, it’s value will not be affected by newly discovered mineral deposits, or manipulated by shady accounting and inflated expectations of Wall-Street firms.

In 5 to 10 years you will be able to walk into your local coffee shop, supermarket or a gas station and scan your credit-card size hardware wallet with the same ease as using your credit card today. All complexities of the protocol and difficult to understand underlying technology will be hidden behind secure, intuitive and easy to use interface.

You will be able to arrive at an Airport or a Train Station in any major city around the world without any need to carry traveler’s cheques or stack of paper bills to exchange for local currency. Bitcoin ATM will be right there, to dispense the local fiat in exchange for some Bits in your Bitcoin wallet - a minor inconvenience till Bitcoin becomes global, universally accepted currency.

I know, it’s very hard to see now days. Progress is happening on the background while we are blinded by BTC-e and Huobi charts, deafened by complaints from people seeking instant gratification, disheartened by theft, scam and incompetence in the ecosystem.

I believe one day this will change. And personally, I wouldn’t want to get caught on the wrong side of that day.

As for now I’m thankful for depressed BTC price, thankful to traders flushing out weak hands, thankful to efficient Chinese mining farms who let the rest of us, latecomers, to get in at the lower price point. I’m buying at $300, $130 or $3, and if I can buy it at 0 I will gladly take that opportunity as well.

And if you think I’m a dreamer, check again in a few years... I might be the one who is wide awake now, and you are the one still sleeping.

P.S. No offence

What you want already exists in puzzle pieces across the world. They will come together for everyone eventually.

That's what's exciting about this, it's a jigsaw puzzle we don't have the box for, just slowly fitting the pieces together to see what it looks like, got a couple of corners done, doing the edges...

Mobile phone NFC could work with bitcoin on mobile networks in a few years. We could load up our wallet app, scan finger print as passcode and buy a coffee with our bitcoin using off chain clearing. You can even go into any shop, hand over some fiat and top up you balance on your bitcoin wallet.